DEAR ABBY: I am a 68-year-old man. Yesterday, my girlfriend and I were in a small gift shop. A young couple was there with a 6-month-old baby in a stroller. I bent down, smiled, winked, waved at the baby and said, "Hi there!" I then told the mother that her baby was beautiful and that I love little kids.
My girlfriend said I was being creepy. I was shocked. I said that she knew I liked kids, and she said yes, she knew that, but that I was still being creepy.
Abby, I have two wonderful, successful adult daughters and always enjoyed having their friends over to our house, which was the place to be back then. I am still stunned at the accusation, but I now wonder. Was I out of line and being "creepy"? -- STUNNED IN WASHINGTON
DEAR STUNNED: There's a double standard for men interacting with children that women don't face. But admiring someone's baby and telling the mother her child is beautiful isn't "creepy." Neither is mentioning that you love kids. Countless people say the same thing in passing, and there's nothing untoward about it.